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1974 CJ5 Steering Too Sensitive – Looking for Advice

B

Boxbirder

New Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2025
I’ve got a 1974 CJ5 with a 258 and power steering. It’s running 31x10.5x15 tires and a Dana 30 front axle. The steering has been very sensitive since day one, but I recently took it on a 150-mile trip and it really drove me nuts.


It doesn’t pull to either side, but it feels kind of all over the place—very twitchy.


I’m not sure what ratio the power steering box is, or how to identify it. There’s no steering stabilizer installed, but the mounting hardware is there.


Any suggestions on where I should start troubleshooting this?
 
jack the front end up, and start grabbing steering components. feel for anything loose.
have another person come out and steer the steering wheel from left to right, right to left and repeat that until you find something loose.
 
Sierra Bum said:
Man these front end questions have been coming up a lot lately. When I think of sensitive steering, I think of a fast ratio steering Box.

Does your rig have lift springs? Longer shackles? At what speed do you start to feel your problem?

As mentioned, verify all the front end components are tight and in good condition with no loose worn out stuff. Tire pressure is easy to check…and wheel balance. If everything is in proper order you should not need a steering shock/stabilizer.

If everything checks out, it’s probably caster. Your steering wheel doesn’t return on its own?…caster. Once you hit 20 mph, and it darts back and forth, hard to keep it straight?…caster.

On your rig you want about 6 degrees positive caster and usually about 1/8”ish Toe-in. You can’t adjust for camber on this.
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Actually you can adjust camber. There are tapered/slightly wedge shaped rings that mount between the knuckle and stub axle to correct camber. I have one of these 6 hole rings from an old ‘74 that I parted out. RockAuto also lists them, but they have been out of stock for over two years now.
 
Keys5a said:
Actually you can adjust camber. There are tapered/slightly wedge shaped rings that mount between the knuckle and stub axle to correct camber. I have one of these 6 hole rings from an old ‘74 that I parted out. RockAuto also lists them, but they have been out of stock for over two years now.
Click to expand...
They are called Cosmo shims and very hard to find.
 
First check for worn steering and suspension components. Then check toe-in and caster once any issues have been corrected. Too steep of a drag link angle can do the same. Might do a search on this site as these issues have been covered ad-nauseum
 
Howard mentioned "caster" which was what caused the same issue on my 48 CJ2A. The Jeep has about 3" of lift, and the previous owner had installed 4* caster shims with wedges facing toward the rear. I think he was more concerned with pinion angle due to the lift, and changed that sacrificing caster.

To stabilize steering these old Jeeps need at least 5* positive caster. When I checked caster angle on the 48 it was just a little over 3*. I replaced the 4* shims with 2* shims, and this greatly improved steering stability. I am not overly concerned with how this changed pinion angle which is not as important to me as safe steering, and 2* difference in pinion angle doesn't worry me on a front axle.
 
I ordered up the gauge to check the caster. When I jacked it up the the where’s will turn very easy. I can turn the wheel with one finger. Not much play in the steering wheel. When driving it doesn’t pull or wobble what it does do is any little movement on the wheel it turns. It appears to be a replaced power steering pump.
 
If the pump and box are not matched, it can create an over boost situation. I had the same thing when I was experimenting with P/S components with my '71 conversion/modification. It felt like a video game with absolutely no 'feel'.
Once I installed a matched box & pump for a '79 CJ5, everything felt good and worked fine.
 
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dnb71R2 said:
If the pump and box are not matched, it can create an over boost situation. I had the same thing when I was experimenting with P/S components with my '71 conversion/modification. It felt like a video game with absolutely no 'feel'.
Once I installed a matched box & pump for a '79 CJ5, everything felt good and worked fine.
Click to expand...

I've been down this road too & I've been noodling on it as a possibility. Also can be caused by output volume.
Pump pressure is adjustable with bypass valve shims but measuring the pump pressure to begin with requires a 2000 PSI gauge and appropriate pressure rated fittings. Measuring volume requires a rated flow gauge.


Easier to check the caster first.
 
I agree with Howard, a digital angle finder can be had for just a few dollars. The one I have is magnetic and I bought it at Harbor Freight for about $15.

Without enough positive caster the steering will not self center, it will feel ultra sensitive, needing constant adjustment, and it is hard to keep it in the lane. When the caster is sufficient, it will self center, and provide stability because the wheels are not up on "tippy toes".
 
Hey all,

I’ve been doing some reading (and too much YouTube watching) on checking caster for my CJ5. I’m seeing some conflicting methods out there, and since I’m still officially "YouTube certified mechanic " I figured I’d better ask the experts before I start tearing things apart.

Some guys swear by just setting an angle finder on the knuckle while parked on a level surface. Others insist that you’ve got to get the frame on jack stands and use a floor jack to get the axle precisely level to get an accurate reading.

I’d prefer not to spend my whole Saturday leveling the garage floor if I don’t have to, but I also don't want to be chasing imaginary numbers while I’m setting things up.


  • Is the "parked on flat ground" method usually good enough for fine-tuning, or is the jack stand method the only way to get it right the first time?
  • Any "old-timer" tricks for getting a reliable reading without making a production out of it?
Appreciate the help!
 
A '74 comes with an open-knuckle model 30 front axle, 1-piece tie rod and Saginaw steering from the factory. These were each a substantial improvement in durability and driveability over the mechanicals used '71 and prior. Regardless I would check for wear first, as suggested above. More moving parts, rough usage and susceptibility to wear than your typical passenger car.

Unless you are really short on funds, I'd suggest an alignment at your local tire shop. They can only set the toe-in and center the steering without tearing the Jeep apart, but they can provide a printout from the alignment machine. The machine will measure front and rear geometry and provide a graphical printout of what they find, as well as what they have changed.

My local shop offered to re-measure after I added my shims, no charge. You may have to ask for the printout. If you want, you could post up your printout for comment here.
 
I checked caster on mine with it sitting on the floor of the garage. This Jeep has a Dana 25 so I placed the magnetic angle finder on top of the King pin cap bolts. Checked both sides, found minor variation side to side, but both were just a bit over 3 degrees positive caster. I replaced the 4 degree shims with 2 degree shims (wedge facing rear). This put caster a bit over 5 degrees positive caster, and greatly improved the steering.

On the Dana 30 I would place the angle finder on top of the ball joint.

Problem with Youtube videos is anyone can make one, so you end up with various people's ideas on how to do something, and it can confuse even the simplest procedure. I see no reason, nor advantage, with putting the frame on jack stands and using jacks to level the axle. Most garage floors are level enough for Government work.
 
If you have a long spirit level, measure how level the floor is.
Not difficult.
Place the level along what will be the long axis of the Jeep, and shim the low end until it's level.
Trigonometry: y/r = sin(theta); y is the height of the shims, r is the length of the level and theta is the angle.
The inverse of the sine is the arcsine (asin).
asin(y/r) = theta.
A good calculator (or Google) will tell you the arcsine in degrees:
Then add or subtract that from the angle you measure on the balljoint top to get the caster.

A tire shop printout will tell you everything related to the suspension geometry: toe-in, caster, camber, front to rear angles, the factory specs, etc.
Not that expensive for an accurate and complete measurement.
 
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When I was adjusting caster back on dinosaurs, not having enough positive caster resulted in "darting" or failing to return to center. The steering wheel would always dart farther than you wanted it to go-then you would have to correct it the other way. Over and over again. Getting 5-6 degrees of positive caster would fix the problem. Along with around 1/16 to 1/8" toe in.
 
Just wanted to post an update on my steering issue since I finally got it sorted out. Figured I'd share in case anyone else is chasing a similar headache.
I took it in to get the alignment checked and everything came back totally in spec, so that ruled out the easy stuff. When I first got this Jeep, I noticed some rust in the power steering pump. I flushed it, went on my way, and didn't drive it much until this spring so I didn't really notice the issue right away.
Well, I finally tore into it and pulled the power steering pump out. Right away I noticed a junkyard wax-pen scribble on it—classic previous owner move. Looked up the specs and realized the junk pump was an 8 GPM unit, but my research called for a 3 GPM pump. No wonder it felt so completely twitchy.
I bought a rebuilt 3 GPM pump to fix it just the pump. Word of advice: if you do this and am a ding dong like myself, just buy the whole unit with the reservoir and pulley attached. Getting the bare pump out along with the pulley was an absolute bear of a job and halfway through I was really rethinking my bright idea of doing it from scratch.


But we got 'er done. Replaced all the hoses. drives like a dream now.
 
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